1. Trish McFarlane, VP of Human Resource Practice and Principal Analyst at Brandon Hall Group, has an interesting post up on Linkedin espousing the merits of an “apology letter” from managers to their teams. Most managers are busy, and as such it can be difficult to stay engaged with everything their teams do on a day-to-day basis. By occasionally taking a moment to acknowledge this fact and recognize your team’s performance to date, however, you can re-energize contributors that may otherwise be feeling disengaged. This is a good piece with some sound advice. Check it out here.

2. Human Workplace CEO and Founder Liz Ryan lists some resume mistakes every job seeker would do well to avoid which you can find here. In addition to the resume suggestions, this is a highly recommended read because it gives a broad overview of the job market as it is today and the mindset it takes to find a great role within it.

We can thank Career Savvy for this infographic. With a new year upon us there are a lot of people updating their resumes/CVs before sending them off to applicant tracking systems/headhunters/hiring managers/the void/wherever. If you are seeking other opportunities take note of the below tips (and follow Career Savvy on Twitter here, Facebook here, and Linkedin here):

1. In a recent Linkedin piece, CAREEREALISM.com CEO J.T. O’Donnell asks us to consider if wealth is a pre-requisite to earning the status of “expert”. O’Donnell makes the argument that it’s not important to have earned great wealth through one’s craft to be an expert, and goes on to say that social media has made building up one’s brand as an “expert” easier than ever before. I agree with O’Donnell’s general position – just because one knows a lot about something doesn’t mean that he or she will be paid handsomely for it: It’s a simple fact of life that not every resource has equal value. Conversely, the underlying reason that many people equate financial success and expertise is because most of us have a strong desire for remuneration. We also believe that there is some indeterminate but real correlation between value and scarcity; if something is rare, then it should command a high price. Ergo, questioning the expertise of a subject matter expert that isn’t well compensated for their knowledge is in many ways a perfectly logical thing to do. Shouldn’t an Economist at the top of his/her field be well paid? Maybe… or maybe not. Read O’Donnell’s piece here and let me know what you think.

2. Karen X. Cheng (of learn to dance in a year fame), makes the argument on her blog that discipline is overrated. Instead, she says, focus on that which you are passionate about and the matter of discipline will take care of itself. On the one hand I agree with her – if you love doing something you don’t need to have discipline to keep doing (and consequently improving at) it. With that said, there is evidence to suggests that “following your passion” is not the best way to obtain a career that gives you the greatest degree of satisfaction. Rather, to really cultivate the most rewarding career, it’s important to first have a skill set valued enough in the market place that you can dictate the terms of your employment to employers. This requires development of skill(s) scarce enough to have significant value… which of course requires discipline. The good news here is that success often cultivates passion, and so through effort, repetition and (ultimately) improvement over time you may discover a love you never knew you had. Check out Karen’s full post here.

3. In this Forbes piece, Retired Col. David Sutherland makes the argument that when filling out their management ranks companies should be giving NCOs a closer look. As solutions driven self starters used to completing challenging objectives under (often) significant duress, Sutherland says that – despite lacking the traditional pedigree associated with senior managers – NCOs bring as much (or more) value to the table than many newly minted MBAs. Should employers be filling more of their management ranks with NCOs? Read Sutherland’s full post here and decide for yourself.

1. Hunter Walk(currently a partner at Homebrew VC, and perhaps best known for his work at YouTube, Google and Second Life) has a great post up on Linkedin about the importance of establishing your company culture as early as your first hire. It’s easy to focus on a candidate’s skill set when building your team – particularly in the early stages when teams are small and strong performance from everyone is absolutely critical to business survival. In practice, however, having a team aligned on both values and vision is perhaps the most important thing of all in determining a startup’s success: A people of shared purpose are a people positioned for positive outcomes. This one is a must read. Check it outhere.

2. Entrepreneur and investorJames Caanrecently wrote a great post on the importance of embracing failure. Caan talks about the value in analyzing and growing from failure as opposed to being ashamed of it: As someone who spent the beginning of his career terrified to fail, I share Caan’s view on the importance of casting your fear aside and pushing yourself as hard and as far as you can. Find the courage to pursue that which is precious to you; don’t hold back another moment… and if you need some more inspiration check out Caan’s full piecehere.

3. Eric Friedman has an interesting post over at Blogging4Jobs listing some of the most common resume lies (as cited by a 2011 SHRM study). Did you know that 53% of all applicants tell a lie on their resumes, and that 80% of all applicants are misleading in some way on their resumes? Find out what applicants lie about (and how how to spot said lies) in Friedman’s full post here.